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Having a good protagonist is very important to any story. Since Genshin Impact is a story-driven game, then you would expect the Traveler to be a good protagonist. Unfortunately, that is not the case since the Traveler has been quite disappointing so far. The main problem is that they rarely get a chance to move the plot forward and are often treated as somewhat important NPC. There is also the issue of HoYoverse being confused about whether to consider the Traveler as their own character or a self-insert.
The Unimportant Protagonist
The Traveler may be the protagonist of Genshin Impact, but they rarely become the main characters in the story arc. In many cases, the true main characters of the Archon Quests are the Archons and the people who live in that nation. This makes sense from a business standpoint. HoYoverse wants to sell new characters, so they want to give these shiny units a lot of attention.
The problem is that this often means sidelining the Traveler in the story. HoYoverse tries to justify this by having Zhongli call the Traveler as the witness of Teyvat’s history. Yet all that means is that they are often relegated to a very fancy and unique NPC who get dragged around into things they don’t care about.
The issue stems from the fact that HoYoverse keeps holding back from progressing the true plot related to the Abyss sibling. Oh no, they need to drag things out and milk the game by feeding fans barely any plot progression every year. The only time the story focuses on the Traveler is when they encounter Dainsleif and try to solve the whole Abyss scheme to topple Celestia.
The other HoYoverse games that I’ve played don’t have the same issue. The Trailblazer from Honkai: Star Rail is somewhat similar to the Traveler, but they tend to have a bigger role. For example, in the Penacony arc, although the focus is on the new characters, the Trailblazer still has time to shine by having to be the one to stop the villains from achieving their goals.
Genshin Impact tried to focus more on the Traveler during the Archon Quests, but they failed. For example, in the Inazuma arc, everyone tried to drag the Traveler into this Civil War, which they didn’t care about. Although this decision makes the protagonist more active, it also makes the Inazuma characters feel passive and useless. The whole Civil War arc could’ve and should’ve been solved without the Traveler’s input.
It seems HoYoverse also noticed this issue since the Sumeru and Fontaine Archon Quests mostly relegated the Traveler to their usual NPC role. While it fixes the problem of making the new characters reliable and proactive, it makes the Traveler obsolete in those arcs.
A Character or a Self-Insert?
Another thing that prevents the Traveler from being a great protagonist is the fact that HoYoverse can’t seem to decide between making them a self-insert or an actual character. Initially, it seems that HoYoverse wants them to be self-insert since the Traveler is a silent protagonist, and you can even name them. Yet as the game evolves, it becomes even more obvious that the Traveler is an actual character with their own personality.
I would’ve preferred it if HoYoverse had gone all in making the Traveler their own character. Unfortunately, they still seem hesitant to drop the whole self-insert shtick completely. Frankly, the dialogue choices that are not actually an option are tiring and frustrating. There is also the fact that the Traveler rarely gets voice lines and is forced to be a silent protagonist most of the time.
I believe it would’ve been better if HoYoverse used the approach for Zenless Zone Zero. The Phaethon siblings are actual characters with hidden motivations and unique personalities. Although you control Wise or Belle, you know you’re not them. HoYoverse has already performed a similar thing whenever the Traveler and the Abyss sibling interact. So it’s really annoying when the Traveler reverts to moving cardboard whenever they are participating in an Archon or World quest.
Ultimately, I think that HoYoverse needs to take a firm stance on how they want to portray the Traveler. This whole thing could’ve been avoided if they just stuck to the Traveler being a true character instead of a self-insert in Genshin Impact‘s story. Thankfully, this persisting issue might finally disappear once we fully engage with the Celestia and Abyss plot, which the developer has been teasing for many years.
